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Nirnn vSrilrrns Armar WWE@ AUSTIN XV. MOSES AND JOSEPH H. SPRINGER, OFPHILADELPHIA, PA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CASTING CAR-WHEELS.

Specilication forming part of Leiters Patent No. 26.01515, datedNovember S, 18:19.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, AUSTIN W. Mosns and JOSEPH H. SPR1NGnR,both ofthecity of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Casting Railroad-Car Vheels; and we do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon.

Our invention does not relate to any particu lar pattern or shape ofwheel, but consists in So cont-riving the molding and casting of thesame as thereby to obtain with the plainest forni of wheel theall-important object of freedom from strain in its parts, thus combiningwith lightnessvthe greatest Strength that can be obtained fromcast-iron. Our invention allows, moreover, the employment of twodistinct kinds of metal in the same casting, whereby the best chilling'effect can be produced in the tread of the wheel by employing hardmetal for this portion, while the center andintervening part can be castof soft metal, thus saving a great amount ofthe time and labor con sumedin boring out the eye of the wheel without being limited in the hardnessof the metal employed for its tread.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, wewill now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

On reference to the drawings, which forni a part of this specification,and in which the same letters of reference allude to similarA partsthroughout the several views, Figure l is a plan of a mold containingour improvements. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same when in theproper condition and arrangement of its parts for casting the centerportion of the wheel. Fig. 3 is also a transverse section7 representingthe mold'when containing a complete wheel-casting.

A is the base of the flask, on which rests the chill B, both beingconstructed in the ordinary manner. The top part or cope ofthe ask iscomposed of the central part, C, and annular part D, which are united bymeans of staples a a and pins b b in a manner allowing a readydisconnection for the purpose of removing the outer part, D, the objectof which is hereinafter fully described. The eye-core E is confinedbetween A and O in the usual manner. A niet-al ring composed of anyconvenient num* ber of seginents,F F, (the drawings represent-v ing itin four,) is made of such shape and diameter as to correspond with theannular recesses c c, which are produced in the mold by the pattern, andinto which said ring is placed for the purpose of confining the iirstpoured metal within its limits, it being, to prevent any chilling effectupon-the metal, thinly coated on its inner surface with a non-conductingmaterial, such as clay, plaster-of-paris, &c.

Operation: XVhen, by means of a whcelpat tern of the desired shape, themold has been prepared in the usual manner, it is, previous to beingclosed, provided with the above-mentioned ring F F, and in this state(See Fig. 2) ready to receive the metal required for cast ing thecentral portion of the wheel. flhis being done, and the molten metalhaving lost suilicient of its heat to assume a crystalline state, thepins b b are withdrawn from staples a a, and the annular part D of thecope lifted off to permit the disconnection and removal ol segments F F,whereupon D is again returned and secured to its position in the mold,and the wheel completed with a Second pouring of metal, thus forming thetread by lfilling the space which was previously kept empty by the ringF F.

Aside from the great facilities which our invention offers for theemployment of two kinds of metal in the casting of these wheels, itsmost important feature consists in avoiding with this method thedangerous strain which by the ordinary manner of casting is produced inthe wheel from unequal contraction of its parts in cooling, whichdifficulty has heretofore been more or less successfully removed bymaking wheels of such patterns which will allow the parts affected bythis strain to yield in the proper direction. These attempts have,however, mostly resulted in producing wheels of undue weight, or of suchform as to be objectionable for expeditious molding, it having, further,been found difficult to make wheels of such shape as to present on theiroutside a blank-unbroken surface, whereby the fanning of dust soobjectionable in passenger-trains is in a great measure prevented. Bycasting the central portion of the wheel iirst, (independently of thetread,)and allowing the same to cool so much as to cause the greaterportion of contracti on to'take place before the tread is added, weobviate that strain which would otherwise be thrown on the outer portionof the plate by a more rapid cooling of the latter (arising frominferior thickness) and by a consequent tendency to separate from thetread by contracting in advance of the latter, which strain is in manycases so great as to burst the casting during the process of cooling.

lVe have found from practice that even by adding the outer metal whenthe greater portion of contraction has already taken place in thecentral part we obtain the desired result of. shrinking the treadtightly to the same without making the former in the least liable toburst, the only strain produced being simply a slight crushing tendency,which, acting in a direct line from the surface of the wheel toward itscenter, cannot impair its strength and safety.

As the time required for the removal of the ring F F and the rcclosingofthe mold for the second pouring of metal may be easily reduced to twominutes, or even less, during which, while the metal has barely attaineda crystalline siate, it will be evident that the amount of contractionallowed i'or the central portion previous to adding the outer metal isentirely at the option of the workman. From the difference in the amountof contraction which takes place in varying qualities of metal it wouldbe impossible to adhere to any fixed space of time, the best resultbeing, however, easily determined by experiment.

It will be evident that our invention is equally practicable for themaking of locomotive driving-wheels with chilled tires, thereby savingthe tediousv and expensive labor of turning the wheel and boring out thetire.

Having now described the nature of our invention, we do not wish to beunderstood as claiming broadly the casting of car-wheels of two distinctkinds of metal, this being claimed in the patent of A. A. Needham, datedDecember 22, 1857, who disposes the iron within the mold by giving thesame a rotating n10- tion. XVe further do not wish to confine ourselvesto the described construction of the ring F F or other parts of theilask in every minutia, as the same may be modiied without impairing ourinvention, but

lVhat we claini,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is u Thedescribed method of casting railroadcar wheels by pouring the centralportion of the wheel independently and in advance oi' the tread,to allowsaid central portion to cool and contract to any desired degree beforeadding the metal forming t-he tread of the wheel, when said end isaccomplished by the employment of a ring composed of any convenientnumber of segments,F F, or their equivalents, and arranged to operate incombination with the annular part D of the ilask, substantially in themanner and for the purpose specied.

AUSTIN XY. MOSES. JOSEPH H. SPRINGER.

W'itnesses:

JEREMIAH NAGLE, TnnoDoRE BERG-NER.

